From Noah Ebije, Kaduna
Senator Uba Sani (Kaduna Central), 2023 governorship candidate of the All Progressive Congress (APC), has said that he will continue from where Governor Nasir El-Rufai stopped in administering Kaduna State if elected governor.
Senator Uba Sani said there was no shying away from the fact that El-Rufai made some mistakes while governing the affairs of the state because he is human.
The governorship hopeful stated this while interacting with Journalists on Saturday during a media parley at the Nigeria Union of Journalists (NUJ), Kaduna State Council.
He said El-Rufai will leave the government seat poorer as a person than when he came in as governor.
He said as a lawmaker he had sponsored several bills, some of which he said had been assented to by President Muhammadu Buhari.
On insecurity, Uba Sani called for the creation of state police and licencing of vigilantes to carry arms to complement the efforts of conventional security agencies.
He charged journalists to always endure to interrogate those running for the 2023 political positions, saying most of them are out to enrich themselves than working for the larger society.
“Government alone cannot create jobs for the people. We need the private sector to complement government efforts. We will continue from where our governor stopped.
“The government of Kaduna State has done a lot. When the governor came in 2015, we rehabilitated all dilapidated primary and secondary schools. He abolished school fees which increased pupil enrollment.
“Kaduna State government has employed more teachers in primary and secondary schools than the ones sacked. We looked at the quality of teachers now, and we say prosperity will reward El-Rufai for doing what he did. Only teachers that were not qualified to teach were sacked.
“The critics take their children abroad to attend school. But here in Nigeria governor Nasir El-Rufai was the first governor to take his children to public primary schools.
“We will continue with an open door policy so that every segment of the society that is key to participating in our government will be engaged. We will even appoint some of them to work with us and move the state forward.
“El-Rufai made a humble statement recently. He said where he made mistake I will correct it if I am elected. He said I am generous because I will give from my pocket and not from government money.
“El-Rufai is never selfish for the years I have been with him. He sold thousands of government houses in Abuja without buying one for himself. He will leave Kaduna as a poorer person than he came. He always thinks of Kaduna. Kaduna will miss him just like Abuja is missing him.
“Issue of insecurity is a national crisis. But in Kaduna State, we need to address insecurity. Security agencies by the constitution are not under the control of governors. The way forward is the state police. We are now over 200 population so I don’t think we have enough security agencies to take care of this figure. We need to create more vigilantes in the state.
“They should work closely with security agencies. They should be licensed to carry arms. Our law is weak and obsolete it needs to be amended to go with the best practices in the world.
“Without being licensed the vigilantes cannot fight insecurity. Many people talk of insecurity without reading the law. Insecurity is not politics. We are going to equip our traditional rulers so that they can work closely with security agencies. We will try to support the police, army, air force. The issue of insecurity is key.
“Infrastructural development, Kaduna has changed in terms of urban renewal. Today we are proud that Kaduna is what it should be.
“I will focus on rural areas. If elected we will focus on all LGAs. We need enabling environment to attract investors.
“We will strengthen our institutions, the judiciary executive and legislature. We work closely with the legislature. We look at laws that need to be changed.
“Agriculture is key. We have the land. But because of insecurity, our farmers have suffered. They cannot go to the farms. We will connect them and bring them together as a cooperative. We must create a cooperative for them. We will support them.
“I am here to interact with you. You have to interrogate those seeking political office. As journalists, you have to be very interrogative. So that you will not confuse the followers. Am making this clarification because somebody was against creating new laws and amending the old ones.
“Only members of the national assessment can amend laws, not the president or governors. I have sponsored bills that were assented to by Mr President. As journalists, you should follow us to know what we are doing.
“The people contesting with me like Hunkuyi, Asake, Ashiru, what did they do for their local government areas? They were in Abuja chasing contracts for themselves. As journalists tell the people who they should vote for.
“As one of the few people for fought for democracy I believe in justice and good representation”. Uba Sani.
